Peter Jackson Resumes Production on THE HOBBIT in New Zealand

Production is underway on The Hobbit…again. Director Peter Jackson announced today that filming has resumed on the trilogy in New Zealand, as there’s still a bit of footage yet to be captured in order to fill the J.R.R. Tolkein adaptation out to three films. While originally envisioned as a two-film adaptation, Jackson and fellow screenwriters/producers Philipa Boyens and Fran Walsh convinced Warner Bros. to greenlight a third film last summer, after they had already wrapped what we presumed to be the bulk of principal photography. Hit the jump for more on the additional filming, including what material it covers.

Jackson made the announced of filming resuming on Facebook with the following message:

Back on set for our last Hobbit pick ups. Our last ever Tolkien pick ups, in fact. It’s going to be an intense few weeks, but we’re looking forward to shooting some powerful scenes with our great cast. Our next blog is coming soon!

It’s estimated that this set of “pick-ups” will last around 10 weeks, which means there’s plenty left to be filmed. We know that a good portion of the production will revolve around capturing the Battle of Five Armies, which will be depicted in the third film The Hobbit: There and Back Again, but there is likely some additional filming to be done as well. The idea of extended pick-ups is nothing new to Jackson, as he shot additional footage for each of the Lord of the Rings films in between their releases and even went back to shoot some footage for the Return of the King extended edition after that film had already won the Oscar.

With filming back underway, Jackson says to expect some more production video blogs in the near future. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug opens on December 13th and The Hobbit: There and Back Again opens on December 17, 2014.